What haunts me at night
by internallyscreamingdaily
Summary: After Donatello is injured, Michelangelo starts to act unlike himself because of a growing fear of losing someone close to him.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leo heard the bowl shatter in the dojo.

 _No,_ he thought, racing out of his room. _Please be okay._

He reached the dojo door. The broken remains of the bowl lay forgotten on the floor, the water that was in it already sunken into the ground.

Leo looked at Master Splinter, who was kneeling on the ground next. He had Donatello in his arms, tightly hugging his second-youngest son.

 _No, Donnie, please don't be-_

Donatello pulled away from Splinter, who was gently beaming at him.

It had been an entire week since the Shredder's goons had ambushed them while they were training on the rooftops. Donnie had gotten the worst of it of all of them. He had been knocked out and put into severe state. All week, everywhere the other three turtles went, they were followed by the thought that they might not have their dear genius brother around with them much longer, keeping them all on edge.

When Leo heard the bowl shatter, he thought that Splinter might have dropped it when he saw that Donnie was no longer breathing, but now, he realized that his father was probably just shocked to see Don awake.

 _Oh, thank goodness,_ he thought before kneeling down beside Splinter to give Donnie a ginger hug, too. The purple-masked turtle gave him a weak, gap-toothed smile in return.

Following a few loud footsteps, Leo shifted to see Mikey and Raph in the doorway.

"D!" the youngest turtle squeaked before practically tackling him.

"Careful, Mikey!" Leo gasped, afraid that the youngest might injure him further.

Even Raphael showed his relief by grasping Donatello's shoulder and giving him a rare smile.

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"I'm glad Donnie's okay," Raph told Mikey a few days later. Mikey nodded in agreement, sitting down on the couch.

Although Splinter tried to get Donnie to stay still and rest, they had often found him trying to sneak off to his lab, insisting that he was fine. Everyone else disapproved of this, saying Donnie should be getting some rest, but Leo also took it as a good sign, seeing that he was trying to settle back into his normal routine.

Splinter had gone topside with a plan to ambush April to see how her skills were coming along. After Donnie had once again insisted that he was all right, Leo had gone along eager to help.

Donnie was in his room resting now, and Raph found himself becoming unsettled by the unusual silence of the lair.

"Hey, Mikey, you er wanna play a game somethin'?"

To his surprise, Michelangelo cringed, then turned to face him, anger clear on his face.

"Play a game?" he repeated, his voice suddenly cold. "Raph, we just almost lost a brother. How could you _think_ about something like that?!" He advanced on Raph, who, shocked, backed up with each step that his little brother took.

"It's a complete waste of time. What if we _had_ lost him? _Then_ what would you care about a _game_? People all around the world right now are in the position that we were in a few days ago, wondering whether someone they love will die in the next few seconds. _Life_ isn't a _game,_ Raph! People _suffer,_ and people **die**."

Raph could only stand in stunned silence. He would have never expected something like this- a terrible, uncomfortable truth- from Mikey, his optimistic, little brother. Mikey glared at him, looking angrier than Raph would have thought possible from him. There was the sound of a few fast footsteps as Mikey ran for Raph, then almost tackled him. Mikey gave Raph a tight hug, silent tears streaming down his face.

"Raph, I-I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me," Mikey said, his voice breaking.

"Mikey, is something bothering you?" he asked.

"I- I just guess- this whole thing about Donnie has got me thinking. We go out for patrol every single night, and one day, three of us could come back."

Raph looked sympathetically down at his little brother.

"Well, Don didn't learn medical training for nothin'," he said.

"But what if Donnie is the one who's been hurt?" Michelangelo asked, not noticing that Donnie, who had been aroused by the commotion, was listening from his bedroom door.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night, Raphael was the only one awake. He walked down the corridor going to his room when he heard something. He poked his head into Michelangelo's room. His little brother was muttering in his sleep, a pained expression on his face.

"No...don't hurt them... no..."

Raph stepped into the room and sat on his bed before gently shaking him awake. Mikey woke in a cold sweat with a gasp and wide eyes. He quicky looked around the room, breathing hard, before he realized what had happened. He put a shaking hand to his mouth.

"Just a nightmare, little bro."

Mikey swallowed, then nodded. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"Raph?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

Raphael remained silent, curious of what he had to say. Whatever it was, it wasn't this.

"Don't tell Leo."

"What?" he asked, a bit shocked.

"I don't want him to think that I doubt his leadership, I honestly really don't, it's just that..."

"We're not in control," Raph finished.

Michelangelo nodded.

"Okay.''

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Raph lay in bed the next night, scrolling through some web pages on basic medics on his T-phone. He had to admit it, Mikey had gotten him interested enough to research something.

 _Oh, if Donnie were to walk in here right now,_ he thought.

The purple-masked turtle surely would have flipped if he had caught him researching, and although Raphael thought that it would be amusing to see his immediate reaction, it would be embarrassing, and the genius turtle wouldn't let him out of his sight until he made sure that he was okay. Raph was silently thankful that Splinter would have Donatello in bed by now.

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A week later, Donnie was almost back to normal. He convinced Master Splinter to let him go along on patrol.

It felt better to have Donnie back with them. The previous few patrols had felt odd with his absence.

A crash in the distance caught their attention. They looked just in time to see Fishfase run out of a building carrying a canister of mutagen. The four jumped down to surround him, and after a few seconds, found themselves surrounded by footbots.

"Get them!" Leo shouted.

Raph stabbed one, which feebly dropped to the ground, and turned just in time to see another aim a sword at his head. He grabbed the sword, preventing the soldier from killing him, but the blade left a deep gash in his hand. Mikey used his chain to tie Xever up. Donnie caught the mutagen canister that he dropped before it hit the ground. Leo and Raph took out the footbots one by one. When the last one sunk by Raph's feet, Fishface used his blade to break Mikey's chain.

"You'll regret this, turtles!" he threatened before retreating.

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Donnie had only a cut on his cheek after the fight. He was more worried about Raph's hand.

"Let me see it,"he said, pulling Raph's arm into the light of his lamp.

"I'll fix it myself," Raphael said suddenly before jerking his hand out of Donnie's grasp.

Donnie was a bit taken aback. Raph usually let him handle this kind of thing, but nonetheless, Donnie let him to it. He didn't feel much like crossing Raph for this.

Raphael got some ointment and bandages from the bathroom, but instead of taking care of himself there, he slipped off to Mikey's room. Michelangelo sat up in bed when he heard Raph enter.

"I thought you could use some hands-on training."

Mikey smiled appreciatively.

Donnie had come to check up on Michelangelo, but he quickly realized what was going on when he heard Raph telling him some things that he had read on the subject. Raph didn't object when Donnie sat on the bed next to him and started to give him precise instructions. Mikey listened carefully and did as he was told. Soon, Raph's hand was neatly bandaged, and Don even let Mikey take care of the cut on his cheek. Donnie was quite impressed. Mikey seemed to have clung onto every word that he said, as he hardly needed instruction, and he did not repeat any of the same mistakes that he had made the first time.

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A few nights later, Raph stopped by Mikey's room again. He looked in to see that his little brother was sound asleep. The nightmares seemed to have stopped.

The next morning, Donnie, Leo, Raph, and Splinter were already in the kitchen by the time Mikey came in. He apologized for having overslept and got right to making breakfast, not noticing that Don and Raph only smiled at each other.

When Mikey had finished making breakfast, the two got up from their kitchen stools and walked up to him. Confused, he glanced apprehensively from one to the other, but they only smiled at him.

Then Raph pulled the bandage off of his hand, and Donnie his off of his cheek to reveal the skin beneath it. There was no infection, no scar, just new, healthy skin.

Mikey looked from one to the other, a smile creeping up his face and his eyes starting to water. Then, unable to contain himself any longer, he pulled them into a giant hug.

"Thanks, guys," he sobbed, tears streaming down his face.

Donnie just chuckled and Raphael gave him a pat on the back, leaving Leo and Splinter very confused.


End file.
